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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Anatomy of writing a book

I'm sitting here today and am looking for inspiration for my book and as I did it dawned on me, it might be fun to share this with you guys.

How do authors get inspired?

Well, I can only speak for myself, but for me... hearing a song, seeing a picture, sometimes listening to the news can all inspire me. But then there are times when a story comes without the inspiration. When I hear the characters but I have no face, no name.

I'm working on the sequel to A Moment, called: Right Now. Alex is the cousin, and anyone who's read A Moment will recognize him. He was fully formed in my head, but his heroine wasn't. Not yet. I just had an idea who she is, but that's it. When I have moments like this one of my favorite things to do is to browse the internet for inspiration.

I had a general idea about her, who'd she be. I like to turn preconceived notions on their heads. Most books like to deal with the tatted bad boy guy. But what if a golden adonis fell for the tatted bad girl? It's happened, so why I don't I tell their story. As I was looking through photos Zoe/Misaki came to life in my head. I like characters to be more than what they might first appear to be. So often I think we judge books by their covers, but often times if we scratch at the surface even a little you might find that the nerdy librarian is actually not the geek you might first expect and that maybe the hot blond guy in your calc class is actually more interested in his grades then in getting laid.

In order for me to write, I first need to understand the motivations and desires of my characters. Alex was easy. I described him in A Moment as a Golden Adonis with an athlete's body, a little bit of a charmer, but with a good heart.

This is Alex:

Dresses like:

You know, plain shirt and jeans. (Hi Johnny *blushes*)

He drives a:

Just your typical, good old fashioned Texas Boy.

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Yes, he's gorgeous, duh. But... there's more there than just that pretty face. Alex is going through a transformation in this book. But in order to do it, he'll need the help of someone who loves him.

So who's good enough for Alex?

How about his total opposite in every way?

Mysterious, a little aloof. Covered in tattoos, works in a tattoo parlor. Dresses like a rockabilly chick.

And drives a classic 55 Chevy Bel Air Drop Top

Then I start looking for places for them to meet and play and live:

And then it came to me. Just like that. Seeing those photos, scenes came alive, their story came alive... they came alive.

And as I write about Zoe and Alex, I hope you love them as much as I do. :)

So now it's back to writing for me, thanks for letting me share a glimpse into my world.